Renata

Sure I said just one week ago we weren’t getting real snow at Christmas eve, joking about living in Toronto and having above-freezing temperatures in December and everything. Then it started, exactly one day after Christmas, like all meteorologists are playing a prank on me. We got three days of a light, but constant snow, and lots of wind, and -12 temperatures. I took a picture from my office when the snow gave us a break – it sure doesn’t look that bad, but it was VERY cold outside.

During New Year’s Eve things got a little better and people were even able to celebrate outdoors, but it was just a quick break for what’s coming after us now: another week of snow, wind and freezing temperatures. Welcome, Canadian winter. I am glad I don’t have a driveway to shovel, and have lots of tea to keep me warm.

I hope your 2011 was just as incredible as mine, and I wish you people a FASCINATING and PROSPER New Year. See you in 2012!

I went shopping yesterday, spent some lots of money and had two opposite shopping experiences. I was looking for a simple black dress (you people know buying adult clothes is difficult if you are short) and an OMG iPad2. After walking most of the Eaton Centre without any luck, I was suggested to try Armani Exchange (for the dress, not the iPad).

The Good Experience

I was welcomed by a non-pushy salesperson who just asked me what I wanted, let me know where I could find it and was just friendly *enough*. By *enough* I mean, she didn’t ask to see “how the dress looks” or anything silly like that. She asked my name, adding a nice touch of friendliness (“are you italian or portuguese? oh, brazilian? “ola como vai?” – I thought it was cute) and told me she’d be outside if I wanted anything else. As I only wanted the dress, I went straight to the cashier, paid, nobody tried to sell me more stuff and people were still smiling at me. I was HAPPY and I would, surprisingly enough, totally come back to ARMANI EXCHANGE. I forgot to say they have amazing sales and their clothes fit really well. Dress was on sale!

The Bad Experience

Now, for something completely different: time to buy iPad2. I know exactly what I want. I ask some random guy with an apple on his chest “Hello! How are you! I came here to buy an iPad2!”. He tries to show me the amazing iPad2. “No, really, I know it, i just want to buy it”. Then he takes me to another appleguy. Appleguy2 asks me which one I want, I tell him. He gives me shinybox. I’m excited. Then I pay. Then he tells me some stuff about activation, I am like “whaaaaat?” “Yeah, we need to activate it… let me call Appleguy3… Dude, can you activate iPad2 for her?”. Appleguy3 comes and asks me about AppleID and password. I think it’s bizarre.

The iPad is to be Fabio’s new toy, so I call him and explain the situation, and how I think it’s bizarre. then I turn to Appleguy3 (who has already opened shinybox) and ask: “Dude, can we do this activation stuff from home, by ourselves? Because, you know, this sounds really unnecessary” and then comes the most awesome answer “You can, but I was going to do it for you and show you how to setup email and install apps”. OF COURSE, BECAUSE I HAVE NO IDEA ON HOW TO USE SILLY APPLE DEVICES. I am so thankful I have Apple staff to help me!

I have to add, they forgot to send me the electronic receipt. I have to come back today with my debit card and have it printed / resent / whatever. Because they are GENIUSES.

I think we all got so smashed by Steve Jobs’s loss because we all techies don’t see ourselves as mortals. In fact, most young people – especially geeky, for some reason – think they are superheroes. So when they see a generation icon dying relatively young of such a terrible disease like cancer, it just hits you right in the face – IT CAN HAPPEN TO EVERYONE, DUDE. EVEN TO STEVE FUCKING JOBS.

The guy was no saint – hope you don’t believe in such thing as fairies, pink fluffy unicorns, and benevolent millionaires. But it was the mastermind behind some amazing tech awesomeness and yep, I would be as shocked as I am if it were Bill Gates. Yet, honestly, I would be heartbroken if it were Linus Torvalds, of course. I am biased.

Life’s short. Do cool stuff. And thanks for all the 4 macbooks I have at home, Steve. But one of them is running Linux ;)

As seen from High Park

I had the most bizarre bike accident yesterday. I was biking in this calm, bucolic neighbourhood, smiling to everybody, thinking about having dinner at a nice place. THEN, all of a sudden, a crazy weirdo crosses my path in his bike, shows me the finger, yells something, hits me. I fall. He keeps going.

While I am wondering what happened, if someone has set me up the bomb, where that blood is coming from, and all those crazy things that cross your mind while you are laying on the ground after an accident, a woman appears and takes me to the sidewalk. A few moments later, guess who appears? The same guy who hit me! He asks if it was his fault. DUH, OF COURSE. And then an ambulance is called.

Now, a quick background story here: last week I found a cat wandering around my condo lobby. I thought it might have escaped from one of the apartments, so I brought it home and tried to find the owner. Long story short, a couple down the street found the same cat a few weeks ago, because the owner left him alone in an abandoned house. The couple talked with the owner and decided to adopt the cat and give him a real family. A happy ending.

Back to the bike accident, there I was with the weirdo, the woman, bleeding, and scared – I really dislike anything involving blood. The weirdo was becoming weirder and wouldn’t let me call Fabio and almost screaming “CALM DOWN! EVERYTHING IS UNDER CONTROL!” – yeah, right. Finally, the full service arrived, ambulance and fire truck. I really don’t know why the firemen came, but fire trucks are awesome and I am always happy to see them. When the paramedics came to see me, guess what? The guy who adopted the cat last week was my paramedic! I couldn’t have been luckier in this situation! So he just told the weirdo to go away and told me cat tales while he took care of me :)

Turns out I have a cut in my chin and in my foot (got a few stitches, will most likely get a scar) a few bruises and scratches, and I needed a booster tetanus vaccine. Experience with the hospital couldn’t be better. No line, waited just a little bit because Fabio saw somebody badly, badly hurt arriving at the ER while I was there. Great, friendly staff, even with an adult afraid of needles. I was back home earlier than expected (especially considering my experience with brazilian healthcare, including private & expensive & top top ones).

You brazilians, know how much do I pay for Canadian Healthcare? NOT EVEN A PENNY.